If You Lose Your ID While Traveling in the U.S.If you are an American citizen and your state-issued driver's license or photo ID card is lost or stolen while you are in the U.S., the first thing you should do is file a local police report. Both the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and airline representatives stress the importance of this step, which creates a paper trail and pinpoints the loss at a specific time and place.This is where the definite advice ends, however. The TSA doesn't address the issue of lost IDs on its Web site, and agency officials that I spoke with claimed it was up to the airlines whether to let passengers without IDs fly -- since the airlines are the ones who issue boarding passes. Airline representatives, meanwhile, wouldn't confirm that it is, in fact, their decision, and although they did acknowledge that they have "security measures in place to deal with such an eventuality," they wouldn't elaborate further.After conversations with several airline reps, it became apparent that lost IDs are handled on a case-by-case basis and that several combinations of conditions can get you on board your flight without proper identification. There are no hard and fast rules, although all the reps agreed on one point: you'll need to show up at the airport extra early to allow enough time for a security interview. (Moreover, since this is your error and not theirs, if you miss your flight you'll have to pay the change fee and the difference in airfare for a later flight.)Though no single issue is likely to make or break your case, here are some of the considerations that airline personnel will use to determine whether to let you fly.Type of ticket. To airline security agents, the return segment of a round-trip ticket will be reasonably solid evidence that you had your ID when you flew to the destination. Problems might arise if you have a one-way ticket or are using the first half of a round-trip ticket, neither of which would prove that you ever had an ID. (One-way tickets in particular are likely to be red flags to security personnel.)Traveling companions. If someone with your last name is traveling with you -- especially if you have kids in tow -- your chances of getting on board increase dramatically. No airline wants the PR headache of splitting up a family over a misplaced driver's license. A wallet-worn family portrait will help establish your identity too.Type of payment used. A credit card purchase can be traced by the airline, if need be, to reinforce your identity claim. If you used any other form of payment -- or if your ticket was purchased for you by someone else -- you may have more trouble making your case.Unofficial identifiers. If you lost your license or passport only (rather than your entire wallet or purse), the other contents of your wallet -- worn credit cards, library cards, business cards, family photos, etc. -- can go a long way toward proving you are who you say you are. These are not official documents, of course, but they carry weight in determining your identity.Demeanor. Airline security personnel deal with fliers all day every day and are quick to pick up on suspicious behavior. They don't elaborate on what constitutes suspicious behavior, other than to say that they "know it when they see it." Regardless, try to keep your cool.Bottom line: Unless you have some extraordinary circumstance -- such as an outstanding arrest warrant -- you'll likely make your domestic flight without your ID. Just be sure to give yourself plenty of time and be prepared for extra screening procedures and personal questions. Also, take a minute to pack copies of your license (both sides), birth certificate, passport, or social security card -- they may come in handy.Do You Even Need a Photo ID to Fly?Now that we have that settled, allow me to confuse the issue altogether.True or false: If you are traveling on a domestic flight in the U.S., you must have government-issued photo ID in order to pass through a TSA checkpoint.Answer: False.According to the TSA's own Web site, you can board any commercial flight with no photo ID at all as long as you have "two forms of non-photo identification, one of which must have been issued by a state or federal agency." That means you can board a commercial flight with an insurance card and a social security card or a birth certificate (although you may want to print out that TSA page, just in case you run into trouble at check-in). All the talk about the necessity of having "photo identification" is just that: talk.Which leads to the next question: what is the purpose of the mandatory-ID craze that has swept the industry since 9/11? Birth certificates are not standardized and, therefore, are easy to fake, and a Social Security card merely has a name and a number on it.The truth of the matter is that some of the new security measures implemented by the TSA are cosmetic at best; they are designed to make us feel safer when we fly, but do not, in fact, make us any safer. It's not fun to point out, but every one of the 9/11 hijackers had valid IDs, and some of their names were even listed on FBI watch lists. I'm not suggesting that we ditch checking IDs altogether -- just that we do a better job of grounding those who would do us harm.